


Epilogue

by abbyli



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: A little angst, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, Pregnancy, lots of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 11:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10535262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyli/pseuds/abbyli
Summary: “C-can I?”She nods wordlessly, leaning back against the counter as he kneels in front of her. His flesh hand slides across the barely there bump of her stomach before his metal one joins it. She flinches against at the coolness that she can feel through her thin teeshirt, her eyes meeting his. His mouth turns up in a smile. “I can feel the heartbeat.”“You can?” Darcy repeats, dumbstruck.Bucky nods. “My arm,” he says. “I can feel her heart.”(The one where Darcy’s pregnant, Bucky freaks out, but they figure it out along the way.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acaseofthemondays](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acaseofthemondays/gifts).



[ [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mknLaFJZ4v4) ]

.

“I’m pregnant.”

Darcy winces immediately. Yeah, bad choice of words.

She’s not surprised when she sees the look on Bucky’s face. The piece of toast he had been about to tear into was held limply between his flesh fingers, his eyes blank and glassy as he processes the words she had just said.

“You’re sure?” he says finally.

Darcy nods. Marmalade drips off of the end of her knife and sticks to the table but neither of them pay any attention. “I took a test. Three actually. And then Helen did the blood test. I’m about eight weeks along.”

Bucky sets the piece of toast back down on his plate, wiping his fingers on the cloth napkin. “Um...”

“Buck,” Darcy tries slowly, choosing each word carefully. “If you need to take off, I understand.”

“What? No, that’s not –“

“I don’t mean permanently,” Darcy says. “Just for a little while to process this. But, um, if you need to _leave_ leave I understand that also.”

Bucky shakes his head vehemently. “No. Never.” He does get to his feet and Darcy flinches, relaxing immediately when he touches her shoulder. She covers his hand with hers, her mouth flickering up in a smile that he does not return. “I love you.”

Then he’s gone, the door falling shut with a loud thud behind him.

-;

“I cannot believe you walked out on her.”

Bucky lets his fist slam into the punching bag again, not meeting Steve’s eyes. “I didn’t walk out on her, punk.”

Steve walks around the edging of the floormat. “You should be over the moon right now, jerk.”

“I will be,” Bucky snaps. “I just...need time.”

“Time?” Steve spits. “This isn’t about you.” When Bucky opens his mouth to protest, Steve cuts across him. “It’s not. This is about Darcy. And she needs you right now.”

“What if I hurt her?” Bucky suddenly asks. Steve stares. “What if something happens and I hurt her or the baby? Then what?”

“What makes you think you’re going to do that? Xavier removed the triggers from your brain.”

“Not that,” he waves that away. “What if –“ Months had passed until the full memory of that late night in December had come back to him in technicolor. Now nothing could ease that memory away. Darcy had insisted that there was nothing to actually forgive Bucky Barnes for. The Winter Soldier was gone. And he was sure that the asset would never make another appearance but he still had the memories. The flashes of what he had done, of the lives that his hands had snuffed out. What kind of a person would he be for his child to look up too?

Steve seems to understand without him saying another word. He sighs in his ‘Steve way’ as Darcy would call it, his hand snapping out to still the swaying leather bag that separates them.  “If you live like that, the constant ‘what if’,” Steve says carefully. “Then you won’t live. You and Darcy will not be able to just adore your child and be happy.”

“How does a person like me deserve a woman like her?” Bucky wonders.

“How does a person like me deserve a woman like Jane?” Steve replies.

Bucky’s forehead furrows. “What are you talking about? Of course you do – Doc’s amazing –“

“I know that,” Steve says, smiling softly. “But I’ve done things. So has Natasha. So has Bruce. And they are not letting their pasts harm their relationships with Clint and Betty.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“But is it really?” he asks. “Natasha was trained from a very young age to be a killer. Bruce was turned into a monster against his will. Your body was taken from you and used as a tool. None of this is anybody’s fault except the people that did the damage to you. It took Natasha years to forgive herself for things that were not under her control. The same with Bruce. They took their lives back and they are not letting that go again.”

Bucky sighs, reaching over to strip the tape from his flesh hand. “I killed Darcy’s parents, Steve. This is a bit different.”

“And yet, no one hates you except yourself.”

“And her brother.”

Steve winces. Only when Darcy had started seeing Bucky and announced her plans to move in with him at his shitty apartment that Tony had agreed to let him move into the tower, on a floor far away from his own.

Bucky didn’t blame him at all.

He still marveled at the fact that Darcy Lewis gave him the time day, let alone lived with him and shared his bed. Now she was carrying his child.

This shouldn’t be happening. He shouldn’t have the second chances but he has got them now.

He meets Steve’s eyes. His friend’s expression is sad but hopeful and he feels like the world’s biggest dumbass. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

Steve slaps him on the shoulder, his fingernails digging in. “Don’t be. Just be happy.”

-;

She’s making coffee when he comes back in.

Darcy hears the door open and close from her spot in the kitchen but she doesn’t move, continuing about her activity until she feels his presence behind her. Darcy waits, jumping slightly when his flesh hand touches her stomach.

“C-can I?”

She nods wordlessly, leaning back against the counter as he kneels in front of her. His flesh hand slides across the barely there bump of her stomach before his metal one joins it. She flinches against at the coolness that she can feel through her thin teeshirt, her eyes meeting his. His mouth turns up in a smile. “I can feel the heartbeat.”

“You can?” Darcy repeats, dumbstruck.

Bucky nods. “My arm,” he says. “I can feel her heart.”

Darcy’s eyes flood with tears. Her hands slip down to cover his, her wedding ring glinting in the afternoon sunlight that shines through the kitchen window. Bucky smiles again, popping a kiss to the back of her hand. “I can feel it,” he whispers in awe.

-;

She had called Jane for back up when she told Tony. Bucky had cleared out for the day, third wheeling on some sort of day trip with Sam and Sharon. Steve hung around and she wasn’t surprised. Jane sat at the kitchen table, a steaming mug of tea in front of her and Tony as Darcy puttered around, obviously avoiding what she needed to do.

“Darcy,” Jane says at last. “You have to tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Tony asks, looking between her and Darcy. “Darce?”

Darcy reaches around the edge of the microwave and picks up the manila folder that holds the sonogram photo. She places it in front of her brother on the table, folding her arms in an effort to her keep herself from falling to pieces.

Tony flips the cover open, his eyebrows almost flying off of his head as he registers what he sees. “Is this...”

Darcy nods. “I’m almost ten weeks along.”

Tony stares at the picture, the small bean that is his niece or nephew, for what seems like an eternity. Darcy shoots Jane a panicked gaze, tentatively touching her brother’s shoulder like she was expecting him to fly off the handle right then.

He didn’t.

Jane leans back in her chair, watching her boss carefully as he slowly gets to his feet and wraps a stunned Darcy in his arms. Her hands hang slack at her sides before coming up to rest on his back. “You okay, big brother?”

Tony nods into her hair. “You name the kid after me, okay?”

Jane smiles, brushing the tears from her eyes as Darcy laughs in relief.

-;

He awakes in the middle of the night to sharp pain in his back. “What the fuck?” he grumbles, rolling over onto his other side to face Darcy. “Did you just kick me?”

She shakes her head, her eyes filling with tears. “Wasn’t me,” she singsongs.

He glances at her swollen stomach, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. His hand rests on her stomach again, and there it is. One solid kick right to his palm. Their little one announcing that she is there and ready to kick some ass.

Darcy gently thumbs away the stray tear that slips down his cheek.

-;

“Do you want to know the sex?” Helen asks, lightly dragging the wand over Darcy’s exposed belly. “Might give you time to prepare.”

Darcy looks over at Bucky, who shrugs a shoulder. Despite having the room in their apartment, they planned on keeping the baby’s crib in their bedroom for the first few months until both of them could get used to the idea of the baby being in another room. Darcy didn’t see that happening any time soon.

“Yeah,” Darcy murmurs. “I’d like to know.”

Bucky nods in agreement, his fingers twisting around hers. “What she said.”

Helen hides a smile, turning the monitor screen more towards them. “Say hello to your baby boy.”

Darcy gives a watery chuckle. “You kept saying it was a girl.”

“Hey, I’m never right,” Bucky admits, lifting her hand against his lips. Helen steps out, leaving the monitor running. Their son’s heartbeat fills the room, safe and contented. “He’s so beautiful.”

“He is,” Darcy agrees. She kisses Bucky’s forehead. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”

-;

“Steve and I made a decision.”

Darcy stares at the pamphlet that Jane had just flopped down in front of her before she looks at Jane. “You’re kidding.”

The older woman shakes her head, her lip trembling. “I hope you will support us.”

“Janey,” Darcy climbs to her feet with effort, wrapping her arms around her best friend. “Of course I will.”

“Steve suggested surrogacy or a donor but I don’t want a baby that’s only mine and not his, you know?” Jane says, barely keeping her tears back. “It wouldn’t feel right. But if we could adopt a baby or even a child and give it the home that it deserves –“

Darcy gently cuts off Jane’s rant. “I think that is a wonderful idea. You’re going to make a great mom.”

“Yeah?” Jane asks, her face shining with hope.

_“Yeah.”_

-;

A boy called Matthew is born on an early autumn morning.

Bucky catches his son as he comes out. He and Darcy are both sobbing as Helen quickly cuts the cord and swaddles the screaming baby up before passing him back to his parents.

“Is he okay?” Darcy asks, her forehead slick with sweat. “He’s okay, right?”

Helen nods. “He’s perfect.”

-;

The rest of the family leaks in and out of the room as the day passes by. Darcy sleeps when she can, but Matthew is already intent on letting his mother know that he is the boss. Darcy and Matthew are finally asleep at the same time when Tony comes in.

Bucky is standing by the window, Matthew carefully cradled in his arms. His hands had shook horribly when Darcy had put him there for the first time, the adrenaline having finally worn off. Now? Now it was the easiest thing in the world. His son. His _son._

Tony watches them from the door, a bouquet of yellow roses in his hands. He walks over to Darcy’s bedside and places them in the water jug, lightly popping a kiss to her forehead before joining them at the window. He digs his hands deep into his pockets, gazing out at the city that continues to pulse and live and thrive.

“I was fifteen when Darcy was born,” he says finally. “She...wasn’t supposed to happen. Our parents never planned for her. They never planned for me either actually. We just...made our appearances into the world.” Tony chuckles, turning to look at his nephew. His eyes meet Bucky’s and he sees something there other than hate or disdain or even a begrudging acceptance.

“I was the second person to hold Darcy. Our parents were already shuffling her off to a nanny and...I didn’t want to let go of her. She was so small and tiny and she was right there in my hands and I knew I had to protect her.”

Tony’s almost gasping for air, his lips moving soundlessly. Bucky’s arm picks up the vitals even without touching him, feeling the rapid heartbeat underneath his fingertips.

“Our mother...she tried though. She really did. She tried to be there for the both of us. To negotiate a peace treaty between me and my father. To spend time with Darcy, have tea parties with her, play dress up. Darcy had this big ugly bright pink feather boa that she would wrap around whoever was with her at the time. Mom...me. Mr. Jarvis.” He smiles at the memory, looking over at his sister. “I wonder if she still has it.”

“She does.” The words that fall from Bucky’s mouth surprise even him. “She keeps it tucked away in a box in the back of the closet, but yeah. She does.”

Tony nods. “I thought she would. Sentimental little freak she is.”

Bucky swallows the lump in his throat, Matthew snuffling in his arms. Tony cocks his head to the side and Bucky carefully passes the newborn over to him.

“His middle name is Anthony.”

Tony emits the smallest of breaths, his index finger brushing against Matthew’s nose. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Darcy wanted too.”

There, right there, was the feeling of forgiveness. Of letting go of something that was not in either of their control and finding the peace that they all so desperately craved.

Matthew cries then but not of anxiousness or pain. The baby grips a tiny fist, waving it in the air and calms almost immediately when he is placed back in the arms of his father.

“Take care of them,” Tony says softly.

Bucky doesn’t have to say anything in return. The answer is already known, so loudly that he could be screaming.

But he won’t. He doesn’t think he will ever scream again.

-;

A small girl with brown hair and cocoa skin crawls into Jane's arms. 

Darcy swipes the tears from her cheeks as she watches their closest friends hold their new daughter. Matthew squirms and moans in her lap, his chubby arms sticking out straight as he reaches for his father.

“Let’s give them some privacy,” Bucky whispers against her hair before taking Matthew off of her hands.

She follows her husband out of the small building and into the clean summer evening air. The lightening bugs have started early tonight and Matthew keeps making sounds of astonishment as he glimpses the small lights dancing around the neatly trimmed yard.

“Finally,” she says, sliding down beside him on the bench.

Bucky nods, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. “Finally,” he agrees. “They deserve it.”

Five years had passed since that horrible day when Steve Rogers had learned that the serum had made him sterile and he was unable to have children. That had been...Darcy winces at the memory...one day that she would rather forget about. And now they could.

“Hey, where did you two go?”

Darcy looks up to see Steve walking from the door, Elizabeth Rogers cradled against his chest. Jane follows them, her face almost splitting with a magnificent smile and Darcy’s heart soars.

Elizabeth’s tiny hands rest on Steve’s chest, her head nestled to his neck. Months had passed since they had met the little girl. Months had passed since she had begun bonding with the two people that would become her parents and carry her with them for the rest of their lives. She already called Jane ‘Momma’ a few times and had yet to get there with Steve but she would. They were a family.

Bucky watches his best friend with his daughter, his own son cradled in his arms. He looks to the women that had brought the both of them so much joy. The scientist who had threatened to bitch slap him when he stole her favorite lemon strawberry poptarts. To the intern slash assistant who had demanded piggyback rides from Steve when her favorite high heel broke. To the two women who didn’t have to stay but yet, they _did._

Matthew squeaks in his arms and Elizabeth smiles, waving one hand at her baby cousin. Matthew seems to wave back, happily wriggling until Bucky almost drops him. He latches his toothless mouth onto Bucky’s silver hand and drools all over him, soaking the sleeve of his grey henley. Darcy chuckles, reaching into her bag and pulling out a teething ring. “Matty, don’t suck on Daddy’s hand.”

Matthew clenches his pudgy fist around the ring and he seems to be in thought of whether he should throw it or not. Darcy snatches it away before he can and he squawks once and clamps his mouth back onto Bucky’s hand. “Oh boy,” Bucky mutters, smiling. “We’re gonna have a problem here.”

“If that is our biggest problem,” Darcy says, reaching out a hand for the door handle on their SUV. “I think we will be just fine.”

They stop, watching as Steve gently buckles Elizabeth into her car seat and helping Jane crawl in after her. Steve gives them a small wave as he jogs around the front of his car and clampers into the front seat, pulling away from the curb and driving off into their new life.

Matthew is sleeping, finally, and settled into his carrier. Darcy climbs into the backseat to sit next to him and Bucky’s eyes watch them in the rearview mirror for just a moment. “Are you ready?”

Darcy sighs, just a flicker of a smile on her lips. “Let’s go home.”

-;

**Author's Note:**

> My teeth hurt. The fluff, guys. The fluff. Hope you enjoyed and drop me your thoughts in the box below. 
> 
> Also, check out the sister story, ‘Prologue’. Jane’s pov.
> 
> Try to leave a review okay?


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